Hollywood producers

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Weinstein Company Says Bankruptcy Is Only Choice

Board says proposed deal would leave TWC 'hobbling toward its demise'

(Newser) - Last-ditch efforts to save The Weinstein Company have failed and bankruptcy is now the only viable option, the company's board of directors says. The studio—founded by disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein and his brother Bob in 2005—says that while "this is an extremely unfortunate outcome for our...

Producers Guild Slaps Weinstein With Lifetime Ban

This is unprecedented, PGA says

(Newser) - Harvey Weinstein has been banned for life from the producers guild. The Producers Guild of America announced Monday that Weinstein had resigned his membership, and the group opted to impose a lifetime ban on him, the AP reports. The guild called it an unprecedented step. The guild's board of...

Elvis Promoter Turned Hollywood Producer Dies

Jerry Weintraub scored biggest hit with 'Karate Kid'

(Newser) - Hollywood producer Jerry Weintraub called his 2010 memoir "When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead"—and at the age of 77, he has stopped talking. Weintraub was behind huge hits like Karate Kid and Ocean's Eleven, but producing was actually his second career, following...

Lauren Bacall Wins an Oscar
 Lauren Bacall 
 Wins an Oscar 
finally
Nov 15, 2009 3:24 PM CST

Lauren Bacall Wins an Oscar

Roger Corman, Gordon Willis, John Calley share the spotlight

(Newser) - A mere 65 years after her unforgettable screen debut, Lauren Bacall has won an Academy Award. The honorary Oscar was a high point of a ceremony last night in Los Angeles that also celebrated the careers of filmmaker Roger Corman, cinematographer Gordon Willis, and producer John Calley. "I can't...

Spielberg Pays Bills for Ailing DreamWorks

Credit crunch forces director into personal bailout for studio

(Newser) - Perhaps for the first time, Steven Spielberg is using personal funds to pay half of a $26.5 million bill his company, DreamWorks, owes ex-partner Paramount so it can keep 17 film projects under its wing. Due to cash shortages, the studio has already lost the rights to as many...

Unhappy Ending, Where Art Thou?
Unhappy Ending, Where Art Thou?
Apr 20, 2008 7:37 PM CDT

Unhappy Ending, Where Art Thou?

Newsweek critic laments Hollywood's love for the upbeat

(Newser) - Happy endings don't ensure box-office sales, but Hollywood still snubs sad or complex finales—even if they better fit the film, David Ansen writes in Newsweek. Filmgoers don't need movies to end on a smile: Take Titanic or The Third Man. But this year's summer fare, like Iron Man and...

Absent Original Scripts, Studios Reel in Lit

Post-strike surge doesn't materialize, so execs tap books, mags

(Newser) - Movie execs counting on a flood of scripts after the writers strike wrapped up in February are snug and dry and turning to books and magazine articles instead, Variety reports. Plump with new fiscal-year budgets, studios are snatching up literary pieces faster than in years past; prison escapes, sunken-ship salvage,...

TV Actors Guild Splits from SAG
 TV Actors Guild
Splits from SAG
Mar 30, 2008 7:30 AM CDT

TV Actors Guild Splits from SAG

More moderate sister union will negotiate on its own

(Newser) - In a move that will complicate upcoming negotiations between actors and Hollywood studios, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists split yesterday from the Screen Actors Guild, its sister union for 27 years. AFTRA shares more than half of its members with SAG, but its more moderate contract goals...

Writers Reach 'Tentative Deal' With Producers

If scribes approve, strike could be over by Monday

(Newser) - The Writers Guild of America has reached a "tentative deal” for a new 3-year contract with producers, the Wall Street Journal reports. While it's not perfect, "the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike," the guild wrote in an overnight note to members....

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